Heartbeat
ETA helps Artera stay on the pulse with User Conference Heartbeat
Conceptualizing, planning and executing a brand new event takes more than diagrams and lights. Here’s how we helped Artera take bold ideas and turn them into an unforgettable experience with creative services, environmental design, event management and beyond.
USER CONFERENCE IN THE HEALTHCARE INDUSTRY
NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA
175 ATTENDEES
Artera needed a true partner.
After years of successful sales events, Artera, the leading provider of essential and critical infrastructure, had set their sights on launching the company’s first-ever user conference. The event would bring together nearly 200 high-value customers. Such a large undertaking called for a dynamic, collaborative partnership that stretched far beyond technical requirements and production logistics. They needed to start at a highly conceptual level to nail down the event purpose, ethos and strategic direction moving forward.
The event experience also had to be flexible enough to accommodate the needs of all of these highly valued users while still maintaining the personal touches typical of a smaller, more intimate event. Every attendee needed to have a personalized experience in terms of attention, service and engagement.
Enter ETA.
ETA had worked with Director of Events Elyssa Jaffe previously, helping the company to pivot to an all-virtual format for their 2020 sales conference in a matter of days. The process proved enjoyable for Elyssa and other Artera team members despite the difficult circumstances, and the stage was set for future collaborations.
Now that Artera wanted to craft a whole new event offering, ETA was poised to engage its full breadth of event services to help them make the new user conference a success.
“Any time I’ve brought some wild idea to them, ETA doesn’t just say no. If they can’t do it, they propose a different option—there’s always an option, it’s never just a no.”
Elyssa Jaffe, Director of Events, Artera
Heartbeat is born
Piece by piece, the user conference we now know as Heartbeat came into being. The team at ETA built the event from the ground up, helping to create a name, conceptual rationale, and look and feel for the event. The creative services team focused on fully understanding Artera’s goals for the event, the Artera brand, their key message and how they defined success. All of these elements informed the initial deliverables.
After receiving positive feedback from the Artera executive team on those elements, ETA worked on translating creative elements into scenic ones, as well as developing branded materials and visuals for the event according to the company’s brand guidelines.
The team made sure that the set and scenic style reinforced the Heartbeat theme and Artera brand. And as with any event, ETA zeroed in on the attendee experience—determining which elements would help invited users make connections and truly absorb Heartbeat’s intended message.
ETA took an active role in shaping the event alongside Artera, helping with everything from venue selection and strategic analysis to tracking the budget and developing room diagrams. Throughout the process, Jaffe relied on the team’s expertise. “If it’s not my wheelhouse, I’m not going there,” she explained. “I’ve built so much trust with ETA, I just know they can handle it. I trust them, and I don’t question it.”
Services
Event strategy
- Pre-event strategical planning
- Project management
- CAD diagrams & room layouts
- Budget management
- Venue logistics
Creative
- Theme development
- Attendee journey development
- Logo creation
- Graphic design
- Presentation development
- Environmental branding
- Custom set & scenic display
- Videography & photography
- Environmental design
Production
- Audio
- Video
- Lighting
- LED wall
- Stage management
- Show calling
- Presenter coaching
- Set carpentry
Program support
- General sessions
- Breakouts
- Lounges and ancillary areas
“I wish everything was this easy.”
ELYSSA JAFFE
DIRECTOR OF EVENTS
ARTERA
Results
The company’s first user conference, Heartbeat, went off without a hitch at The Ritz-Carlton in New Orleans. The team was able to successfully create an environment where attendees could easily connect with others, even if they came to the event alone. ETA worked to create a welcoming environment that still surprised and delighted everyone in attendance. “People were blown away by the scenic and all the videos,” Jaffe explained. “They had no idea it was even an LED screen.”
What made our collaboration so successful?
- High-touch service: ETA puts the same level of effort into an event regardless of its size.
- Uncompromising quality: ETA delivered an equal level of quality across branding, video, content, production and day-of execution, creating a truly end-to-end experience that stayed within the bounds of the event budget.
- Holistic expertise: The balance of creativity, practicality, technical expertise and trust made for an impactful partnership that continues on to this day.